School green space ripe for community use
Fields and playgrounds on school land are being eyed up for community use as the city council looks at tapping into “a huge acreage of potential play space“.
School grounds made up a “massive amount of land and space” yet most aresurrounded by fences, Hamilton deputy mayor Angela O’Leary said.
O’Leary tabled a “very informal” motion at the community and natural environment committee on Thursday requesting council staff develop an advocacy plan around the city’s schools and other open spaces as part of its proposed open space provision policy.
The committee voted unanimously to adopt the proposed amendments to the policy, which included reducing the walking distance target for parks within medium and high-density residential areas from 500m to 400m.
Councillor Maxine van Oosten liked the O’Leary’s idea, saying there was “a huge acreage of potential play space“at Hamilton’s 104 schools.
O’Leary’s motion suggestion followed on the work carried out by former councillor Martin Gallagher, who O’Leary said had been “all over this topic” a long time ago.
“Look, I know this won’t be an easy task and it’s probably going to take another decade but I know they deal with things like vandalism, damaging their schools, their tagging of their buildings and so these are some of the concerns as a community we can possibly partner up and work towards trying to achieve.”
Even access to one small green space or skate park would “add to the network of open space for our community massively”, O’Leary said.
Councillor Maxine van Oosten said she “wholeheartedly” supported O’Leary’s intention. The school land “has often already got some equipment in it for playing in it but certainly has flat areas... and can absolutely be accessed by our community if they weren’t all shut off.”
And the majority of Hamilton’s 104 schools were shut off, van Oosten said even Te Ao Marama School, which abuts Hare Puke Park in Flagstaff, had a fence around it.
The park had earlier been used by council staff as an example of a great relationship with the neighbouring school.
“That stops access for our community to be able to get to those spaces.”
Kāinga Ora developments located near schools were also something to think about, in particular the one near Maeroa Intermediate.
There were houses there with small driveways and a “pocket park” but she believed young people would benefit from people able to access more open space.
“I can’t see why we can’t be working kāhui ako, our communities of learning, to really be able to talk about community need in here.”
Having people around in the weekend “absolutely” helps to make sure those areas are safe.
Andrew Bydder said he supported those points entirely.
The committee also talked about their concerns around safety at road-adjacent parks and reserves around the city.